Ashes To Ashes Stay With Me
by StatickMagick
Summary: What would have happened if Chas Cale's hostage taking didn't go as planned. Alex fights for her life, and Gene fights for his feelings. Alternate ending to episode 1.6. Very Gene/Alex.
1. Stay With Me

_Hello there readers! Welcome to my second A2A fic, I'm finally getting used to Gene/Alex, after all my fangirly protective episodes. So, I'm guessing you want to know all about this fic, eh? Well, I thought the ending to ep 1.6 of A2A didn't exactly cut it for me, so my mind made up a different one. Apologies. Hope it's alright. Please review, I love comments, good and bad. Thanks!_

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'Come on Alex, you'll be OK,' Gene muttered to the limp form of the woman he had draped over his arms as he kicked in a door, allowing him to pass through to the restaurant area of Alla Casa, Chas Cale's steakhouse.

Gene arrived just in time, shattering his way in, a desperate attempt to reach Alex before it was too late.

Laying her gently down on a nearby couch and kneeling beside it, Gene tore one or two buttons off her turquoise satin top and prepared to resuscitate her.

Clamping his leather-gloved hands together, he muttered to himself, 'I've bloody dreamt about doing this.'

As he pressed firmly yet gently on her chest, his mind was racing, contemplating all possible outcomes of the situation. He willed her to suddenly catch her breath and wake, to find him inches from her face, and pull him in to an embrace.

'Don't you dare,' he snarled, hoping that she wouldn't hear the anger in his voice, only the sentiments that lay in the undertones. He didn't want her to leave, she couldn't, not now.

After no sign of Alex regaining consciousness, Gene leant closer to her chest in order to hear a heartbeat, a signal, a lifeline.

Realising that the only option left was to prepare mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, Gene rolled his eyes, leant forward and cupped her chin with his leather-clad hand. As he neared closer to her lips, he backed away to save face. He wouldn't want his DI to wake up and find him taking advantage of her unconscious state.

He thumped against her chest with clasped hands again, still taking care not to hurt her, but pushing enough to restart her system.

No luck.

A switch flicked in Gene's mind. This wasn't going to work. He felt something sting violently behind his eyes, causing him to blink hard, contemplating that there may be no hope for her.

'Not now, Bolly, you can't leave me now,' he muttered, using his pet-name for her as a way of blocking out his underlying feelings for her.

He kept his gaze firmly set on her closed eyes, the blue eyeshadow-tinted lids concealing them, while he fumbled by her side to find her hand, and entwined her fingers tightly with his, the black leather disabling the freezing cold that emitted from her. Raising their entwined hands to his lips and kissing her delicate, bare hand, Gene's eyes began to sting again.

'You can't, you're not going to, not now, stay with me,' Gene whispered as softly as his gruff voice could, but was drowned out by the echoing sirens of an ambulance flanked by two police cars.

Reluctant to let go of her stony hands, Gene slid both hands underneath her to lift her up once again, draping her carefully over his arms, as he carried her through the shattered window to a stretcher which was being erected just behind the ambulance outside.

Laying her lifeless body down, he grasped her hand once again as the ambulance driver pushed the stretcher into the rear of the ambulance, with Gene walking by the side and clambering inside the vehicle, all the while keeping hold of her hand gently.

Gene settled down on the small bench beside the stretcher in the ambulance as the driver slammed both doors shut, leaving Alex and Gene alone.

'All the things I've wanted to say, Alex, you can't go now,' he muttered as he kissed her hand again, then leant towards her head. Brushing away her frozen perm curls with the other hand, Gene gently pressed his lips to her forehead, closing his eyes and picturing her waking up. Any moment now.

'You see, these, these men, they can help you more than I ever could,' Gene said as he tightened his grip on her fragile hand in reassurance.

'I hope you don't think bad of me for saying this, but I need you, Alex, we all need you, and this station would be nothing without your la-de-da bollocks,' Gene tried to express his feelings by avoiding the three words he wanted to say the most.

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_Sorry, I love cliffhangers. Anyway, second chapter's up now, so please read on, and don't forget to review, feedback from readers is love!_


	2. Don't Fall Asleep Too Soon

Gene swung the doors of CID open, avoiding the gaze of all the officers in the room. Storming in, he paused in front of Alex's desk, taking a glance at her name plate through the corner of his eye.

DI Alex Drake.

He reached out his gloved hands and flipped the name plate over.

The crowd of officers in the room rose from their various seats, dropped their cigarettes and newspapers, and bowed their heads. Those who were wearing hats, doffed them.

Gene spared a short look towards his DS Ray Carling and DC Chris Skelton. He caught their glances towards him, but didn't dare to look them in the eyes. He headed straight for his office, swinging the door open violently and slamming it behind him even harder. The odd brave officer in the CID office peered through the blinds to see how their DCI had reacted, but soon looked away in horror. Gene immediately flailed his arms in every direction, knocking over filing cabinets, splaying mountains of files, flipping over his entire desk and smashing the computer on it, all in a matter of seconds.

Not a word was spoken.


	3. The Angels Can Wait

_Sorry this third chapter is a little later than expected, I had to alter a few things. As you can probably already guess, the chapter names are references to the song 'Stay With Me' by DJ Ironik. This is merely because the song was my primary influence for this fic. Before we get down to business, I just want to stress that this fic is Angst/Tragedy for a reason. I don't want to spoil anything, but at the same time I want to warn readers before anybody says that they weren't warned of what's to come. So now you have. Anyway, enough of the talk, let's get on with the story. Enjoy!_

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Gene solemnly paced down the clean corridor at the hospital ward, stuffing the Quattro's keys into an outside pocket in his black greatcoat

Gene solemnly paced down the clean corridor at the hospital ward, stuffing the Quattro's keys into an outside pocket in his black greatcoat. She had been supplied with her own private room simply because she had status as a member of the police.

He stepped into her room and took in the view of a lifeless DI Drake, wired up to all sorts of machinery, clinging to her last lifelines. Pulling up a chair at her bedside, Gene touched her hand carefully to tell her of his presence.

'Sam always used to talk about people in comas, how you have to talk to them whether or not you think they're listening. Have to pretend they're part of the conversation, still a human being. He knew quite a lot about comas, so he must've spoken from experience,' Gene reminisced while addressing a sleeping Alex, eyes shut firmly.

The heart rate monitor beeped rhythmically in the background, filling in the silence between Gene's speech.

'He said music helps, so I've brought you some, er, Adam And The Ants and a bit of Roxy, just in case. Rejects from the Met Christmas do, and I know you like them,' he chuckled to himself, fumbling in his deep pocket with the free hand, recovering two small cassette tapes and placing them on the bedside cabinet.

'Luckily, someone's already brought you a cassette player, so here you go,' Gene let go of her hand to take one of the cassettes out of its case, opened the player and proceeded to start the tape running, the sounds of Adam And The Ants' Ant Invasion echoed through the room as Gene rolled his eyes.

'God, I hate this song. Not that I'm complaining, got to keep the customer happy, eh?' he smiled to himself, taking her hand once again and giving it a kind squeeze.

Gene glanced around the room to find another topic of conversation, when his gaze landed on the discarded tray of Yorkshire puddings and gravy on another table in the corner.

'Well at least the food's better than the last time I came to a hospital,' he sighed, remembering the time when Sam brought him to see a victim of knife crime in the early 70s. 'Deepak Ghandi, I think he was,' he spoke out loud, forgetting that he hadn't mentioned the whole story, 'the bloke I was last came to see in one of these, I mean. Record store owner, caught in the crossfire of a drugs deal.'

Gene looked up to see her closed eyelids, paler than usual and missing their usual blue shading.

'I can't stand this. I'm talking to someone who probably can't even hear me, so I'm wasting my breath. But I'll say it anyway. We all need you here, Alex. The station's gone arse-up since you've been in here.' Gene watched a doctor pass between the open blinds on the windows of the ward.

'I hope they're looking after you well, or I'll have to kick in some of these white-coats,' Gene laughed to himself quietly.

'I… I, er… too many things to say, but I've still not got the courage to say them, even when you're not listening,' Gene looked down at the hand he was holding, her blue veins appearing closer to the surface than before.

That pain behind his eyes started again. He squinted hard, rolling his eyes to the ceiling in agony. Stabbing pain, blinding pain, as if something inside was telling him to do something.

'Both Luigi and something inside me would never forgive me if I didn't tell you, so um,' Gene paused to contemplate the words he could use, 'I'm nothing without you, Alex, I, er… love you. So don't you dare leave me now, okay? You won't hear the last of it if you do.'

Gene looked down at their entwined hands awkwardly, instinctively avoiding the stern gaze that he was sure he would receive, if only she was awake.

'I know, I probably deserve a slap for that. I can tell you, that's something I've not missed since you've been here,' he joked.

'Anyway, there's so much going on at the station right now, tracing whoever Chas had sent to collect you and all that, and you know how I never leave Chris and Ray in charge. So I better go now love,' Gene raised himself from the seat, leaning forward and kissing her forehead gently.

'See you soon, Alex,' he sighed, only letting go of her hand when she was sufficiently out of reach. As he reached the doorway and swung the door open, he paused and turned to watch her once more, the regular metallic beeping of her heart monitor invading his thoughts, 'don't you ever stop beating,' he thought to himself, before reluctantly turning and walking away.

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_Never fear, for it doesn't end there! I've definitely got two more chapters in the pipeline, and they should be up within the next day or so once I've done some spring cleaning of it all. Please write some reviews, it's good to get some feedback from readers._


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